Executive Programme · Certificate
Certified
Financial Fluency
Two days that change what you see when someone puts a set of accounts in front of you.
Certified Financial Fluency draws on the questions that repeatedly arise in growing businesses, investment decisions and boardrooms: what the accounts are saying, what management should pay attention to, and what the business can safely do next.
- FORMAT
- Online, live
- DURATION
- 2 days · 3 hours daily
- ADMISSION
- Quarterly cohort, limited
- FEE
- £1,250
THE PREMISE
Profit is an opinion.
Cash is a fact.
Most senior people can follow a financial conversation. Far fewer can interrupt one.
Financial fluency is the ability to hear a number, understand what produced it, see what else must have moved, and know what to ask next. It allows you to form your own view of what a business is earning, consuming, carrying and able to afford.
This programme is for people who are responsible for financial decisions but have never had a structured opportunity to learn how the accounts fit together. It begins with first principles and moves quickly into application. No accounting background is required.
WHAT CHANGES
By the end of the second day
You read statements with greater independence
The income statement, balance sheet and cash-flow statement stop appearing as three separate documents. You understand how they connect and what a movement in one is likely to mean for the others.
You understand why profit and cash can tell different stories
A growing business can report a profit while becoming increasingly short of cash. You learn where cash becomes tied up, why that happens, and what management can do about it.
You recognise financial pressure earlier
Weak margins, slow collections, rising obligations and dependence on new funding often become visible before they become urgent. You learn how to identify the signs and consider the appropriate response.
You leave with a dashboard for your business
During the programme, you select a small number of measures that are relevant to your own business and decisions. The result is a dashboard you can continue to use each month.
CURRICULUM
Two days, four movements
The programme runs live across two consecutive days, for three hours each day. The sessions are practical. You work through financial statements, discuss what they mean, and apply the lessons to a business for which you are responsible wherever possible.
Day One (Seeing the business clearly)
- 01
Phase one — The wake-up call
What accounts can tell you
We begin with businesses in which financial pressure was visible but not adequately understood or acted upon. We consider what information was available, how it was interpreted, and which questions might have led to better decisions.
- 02
Phase two — Master the fundamentals
Financial statements as one system
Profitability, liquidity and leverage are examined as connected features of a business rather than isolated ratios. You learn how the three principal financial statements relate to one another.
- — Break, introductions and open questions
- 03
Reading a set of accounts
Working with a complete set of financial statements, you identify what the business is earning, where its cash is going, what it owes and where further attention is required.
- 04
Applying the day to your business
You prepare a one-page financial reading of your own business, or of a working case provided during the programme, to bring back on the second day.
Day Two (Operating)
- 05
Phase three — Mastery through application
Working capital and cash
You examine how sales, customer collections, inventory, supplier payments and other operating decisions affect the amount of cash available to the business.
- 06
Phase four — The executive edge
Building a useful dashboard
You decide which measures genuinely deserve regular attention in your business, how frequently they should be reviewed, and what questions should follow when they move.
- — Break, discussion and open questions
- 07
The cash-flow decision
The final exercise places you inside a business facing genuine cash pressure. You assess the available options, develop a response and explain the reasoning behind your recommendation.
- 08
Final reflections and recognition
Certificates are conferred to participants who complete both days and the final exercise.
WHO ATTENDS
For people whose decisions affect the numbers
Cohorts are kept small and deliberately mixed. A founder, investor, board member and operating executive will often notice different things in the same set of accounts. The programme allows those perspectives to be tested against one another.
Founders and owner-operators
People who understand their businesses deeply and want their view of the finances to become equally strong.
Board members and investors
People who need to form an independent judgement on financial information prepared by management or advisers.
Business and product leaders
People whose decisions about pricing, hiring, investment, growth or delivery have direct consequences for margin and cash.
No accounting qualification or prior financial training is required. The programme is taught through the decisions involved in operating, investing in and governing a business, rather than through the technical work of preparing accounts.
COHORTS
Upcoming cohorts
8 - 9 JAN
2027
9 - 10 MAR
2027
£1,250 per participant
- Two days live, three hours daily
- Applied to your own business wherever possible
- A complete working set of accounts provided where needed
- Your executive dashboard, built during the programme and kept afterwards
- Certificate of Financial Fluency on completion
QUESTIONS
Before you enrol
Upfront: What does the £1,250 course fee include?
The programme is designed for ambitious founders, executives and decision-makers who recognise the value of genuine financial fluency. The standard £1,250 fee includes a £250 contribution towards a sponsored place for a promising emerging CEO. Through these contributions, we aim to welcome at least one next-generation leader into every cohort at no cost. Bringing them into the same room, conversations and opportunities as today’s established leaders. We believe that those who rise also have a responsibility to lift others. However, the contribution is entirely optional: participants who prefer not to sponsor a place may enrol for £1,000. We also extend group-rate courtesies to organisations enrolling multiple executives. Please contact us to discuss your intent.
Do I need any financial training?
None. The programme starts from first principles and is taught in plain operating language. Participants who have never read a balance sheet finish the two days building their own dashboard.
Do I use my own company's numbers?
Yes, where you can. Much of the value is in applying each session to a business you are accountable for. Participants without access to a live set of accounts are given a full working set instead.
What is the time commitment?
Three hours on each of two consecutive days, live and online, plus a short reflective exercise between them.
What is the certificate?
A Certificate of Financial Fluency issued by FACTS Finance Group, conferred on participants who complete both days and the final project.
Can we run this for a whole team?
Yes. Private cohorts can be run for boards and leadership teams using your own financials throughout. Contact us for scheduling.
REGISTRATION
Places are allocated by cohort. You choose your preferred dates at checkout.
Cohorts are kept small so that the exercises can be discussed properly and each participant receives meaningful attention.
Enrol below or speak to us first.